250 COTTAGE GARDENS. 



When Lord Bolingbroke, after a residence of 

 four years in France, returned on account of the 

 state of his affairs to England, in order to sell his 

 farm at Dawley, he principally resided with Pope 

 at Twickenham, in the society of Marchmont, 

 Wyndham, and other friends. It is probably on 

 this occasion, that Pope composed those beautiful 

 lines " On his Grotto at Twickenham,' 5 which 

 have conferred an undying interest on it. 



Approach, but awful ! lo ! the ^Egerian grot, 



Where, nobly pensive, St. John sat and thought ; 



Where British sighs from dying Wyndham stole, 



And the bright flame was shot through Marchmont's soul. 



Let such, such only, tread this sacred floor, 



Who dare to love their country, and be poor. 



The love of gardens and of gardening appears 

 to be almost exclusively confined to the English, 

 and is partaken of by the poor as well as by the 

 rich. Nothing can be prettier than the gardens 

 attached to the thatched cottages in Devonshire. 

 They are frequently to be seen on the side, and 

 oftener at the bottom of a hill, down which a 

 narrow road leads to a rude single-arched stone 

 bridge. Here a shallow stream may be seen flow- 

 ing rapidly, and which now and then stickles, to 

 use a Devonshire phrase, over a pavement of 

 either pebbles or ragstone. A little rill descends 

 by the side of the lane, and close to the hedge of 

 the cottage, which is approached by a broad step- 



